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Week Two
Week One Two “So…” Unsurprisingly, Gaia was the first person to break the ice. “What now?” It was raining when she ventured to speak – it had been raining for a while, almost since the battle – and the noise of water hitting window would have drowned out her words, had she not been as bombastic and loud as usual when saying them. As it was, the mundane phrase exploded from her lips as though she were a frantic zealot, repeating the words of her messiah. For a moment, she received no answer, with the room’s various occupants distracted for just as various reasons. Eventually, a ginger-haired man reclining on the aging sofa in the room’s center lowered his book and glanced back at her. “We wait. Still.” He deadpanned. “In the five minutes between now and the last time you asked that question, Plue hasn’t returned. There isn’t a lot we can do.” “But…” Gaia’s face fell, and she adopted the expression of someone who had gone through a major paradigm shift. “Waiting is boring…” “Then find something to do.” Jacen indicated the pair’s surroundings with a hand. “Cramped as it is, this is still a full-sized house. There must be something around here that’ll keep you entertained.” Gaia looked around, quizzical. Her eyes roved from books to board games to active games consoles, but eventually, she shrugged. The baggy shirt she was wearing slid around on her shoulders as she moved. “Not really.” She admitted. Jacen, in response, laid his book on his lap and glanced at her with a very tired expression. The expression of someone who was more than fed up with their circumstances. “All of this random junk, and nothing interests you?” “To be fair,” a third voice interjected into their conversation, “it probably has something to do with, like, the knowledge that she’s waiting for something? And the fact that she has to wait for anything is what she finds boring, rather than a lack of things to do?” Gaia and Jacen both directed their gazes to Rose, who cowered slightly under attention. A moment passed before Jacen turned away from the dark-skinned girl, and began to read his book again. “Just stop complaining about it.” He muttered, conclusively. Gaia, upon hearing this, proceeded to turn around and bang her forehead into the closest wall, presumably out of frustration. “But she’s been gone so looooong…” Jacen slammed the book back down, and opened his mouth to speak again. However, he was beaten to it. “Actually, Gaia’s got a point.” Rotating his neck, Jacen fixed his gaze on Dante, who had just walked into the room. Coat slung over one shoulder, holding a coffee in his free hand, the tired young man’s brow was furrowed as he spoke up. “It’s been almost an entire day.” He pointed out, sipping his coffee. Jacen chose not to focus on the anxiety evident within his eyes. “Are you worried?” He instead chose to ask, expecting their de facto leader to bluff his way out of properly answering the question. Instead, he was met with a firm and tense gaze. “Yes.” Dante admitted. Immediately, Gaia sprang out of her stupor with a shout. “Let’s go and check on her, then!” “Okay.” Dante shrugged. “Just don’t do anything illegal. Or particularly dangerous.” “’Kay!” Gaia gave a jaunty, two-fingered salute as she strode towards the door. “How are we getting there?” “Car.” Declared Dante, looking pointedly at Jacen, who understood his message almost immediately. “Oh.” He sighed. “No.” “Jacen, please.” “Dante, I’m not going to drive all the way to…” He was cut off upon seeing both Dante and Gaia’s pleading faces. “God damn it.” “Hey, I have an idea!” Gaia exclaimed suddenly. “Let’s all go!” Ignoring Jacen’s exclamation of “huh?”, she turned and yelled up the stairs. “Shadow! You there?” A moment of silence passed, before a cracking noise rent the air and the flaming black apparition appeared beside her. She cheered. “We’re gonna go on a trip to the new Nexus Force base to see if Plue is okay because she’s been gone for like the whole day and do you want to come?” The sentence’s length forced Gaia to inhale sharply after speaking, in order to replace the breath lost. Another moment of silence passed, and then Gaia turned to the rest of the assembled figures. “Yeah, he’s cool with it.” She grinned jauntily. “Well, what are we waiting for?” Dante smiled as he finished his coffee (tossing the cup away as he did so) and began to sling his coat around his shoulders. Its maroon colour clashed horribly with the cyan shirt he was wearing, but by this point it was fair to say that they had all grown used to the man’s atrocious fashion sense. Jacen exchanged a glance with Rose, whose gaze flickered from him to their companions and back. She shrugged. He sighed. “Nothing.” He rose, groaning, from the sofa. “Let’s go.” *** Jacen’s car was a tight fit. His parents, who had rushed to Crux Prime as soon as their missing son had contacted them, and who were currently sleeping in the top room of the house everyone was staying in (the long trip and subsequent reunion had tired them out), had bought the vehicle when it had been a family of three, and space hadn’t been a concern. As it was, Gaia, Rose and Dante found themselves crushed against one another on the back seats, while Jacen drove and Shadow rode shotgun. Despite Gaia repeatedly clamouring for the position, Jacen had given it to Shadow, because he figured that being pressed against a figure made of flames for the journey’s duration would be weird and uncomfortable, and Rose – and maybe Dante – deserved better. The downside to this was, or course, the complaining. “Jaceeeen!” Gaia whined from the middle seat. “You know I claimed eternal shotgun, right?” ““Eternal shotgun”?” Echoed Dante, sounding decidedly dubious. “No wonder he didn’t let you sit up there. Eternal shotgun sounds like too much power for any one man to wield.” “Yeah, well, I’m a woman, thank you very much.” Declared Gaia, folding her arms in a pout. Dante snickered. “You’re just jealous because Jacen can drive.” “Oh, I could totally drive.” Gaia declared. “I bet it can’t be that hard. I just need a car… Jacen! Are you going to use the car for anything else after this?” “I’m not lending the car to anyone.” Jacen deadpanned. “Least of all you.” Dante laughed at the rebuttal, before turning to Gaia. “How old are you, anyway?” “I…” Gaia trailed off. “Sixteen or Seventeen, I think.” Whereas most people would have jumped on the “I think”, everyone seated in the vehicle knew better. Gaia had been kept inside the underground facility, that had housed a whole group of kidnapped deviants, for longer than anyone else. In fact, the records that had been scoured after the battle of Crux Prime indicated that she had been imprisoned for upwards of four years. Under those circumstances, forgetting one’s age was understandable. “Wait a minute.” A sly smile formed on Dante’s lips. “Jacen, how old are you?” “Eighteen.” Jacen obliged. “And Rose?” “Nineteen, almost twenty.” Rose responded. Dante nodded, as if he had just made an incredible discovery of some kind. “And I’m twenty. Which means…” He pointed dramatically at Gaia. “You, Gaia, are the youngest here! Not even of age!” Gaia flushed. “Seriously? What about Shadow?” She pointed at the figure seated in the coveted shotgun position. “How do you know he’s older than me?” “He has a daughter.” Deadpanned Dante. The argument developed from there, over how Gaia wouldn’t be allowed to drive a car anyway. Jacen chose to ignore the words of his friends (damned if he ever referred to them as such) and instead focused on the road, watching the raindrops trickle down the windscreen before getting knocked aside by wipers. He managed to re-focus himself just as Dante yelped because Gaia had elbowed him for the sixth time. Not that that was the reason he had been drawn out of his almost fugue state – he was forced to suddenly focus by the realisation that the car was passing by the building they were trying to arrive at. Hastily, he stamped on the breaks. There was a sharp screech, as well as yells from both Gaia and Rose, before the little car ground to a halt just outside their destination. Glancing to his side, Jacen stared at the building in all its glory. With the destruction of Nexus Tower (which, it had been established, was actually not Gaia’s fault), the Nexus Force had been in need of a new headquarters. It was only after the battle of Crux Prime that they had been able to focus on rebuilding what they had lost, and the command center that now stood in Nimbus Station was an impressive sight to behold, especially seeing how it only been a week since construction had begun. Already, there were a dozen fully functioning rooms, as well as employees coming and going constantly from their new workplace. In there, Jacen knew, were most of the higher-ups in the Nexus Force. The exceptions were the faction leaders of Assembly and Paradox respectively, who were occupied with taking control of Overbuild’s facility, freeing and rehabilitating prisoners, and converting the building into something more humane and useful. In any case, Plue – new leader of the Sentinel faction – had been inside that building for an entire day, in what was apparently some kind of meeting. Jacen was unaware of the details, and didn’t remember her specifying how long the meeting was going to take, but this didn’t seem to worry Dante and Gaia – or rather, seemed to worry them further. A combination of anxious boyfriend syndrome and general restfulness meant that they were out of the car almost instantly, striding towards the building and getting soaked to the bone as the rain fell relentlessly. Jacen glanced at Shadow. “You want to stay in here, and watch the car?” Truthfully, Jacen had no idea how the figure might have handled the water, but Shadow nodded anyway. Shrugging, he unlatched his door, muttering a “Come on, Rose” as he moved. The rain was absolutely pouring down, the water as intense as a high-pressure shower and far colder. Within moments, Jacen was forced to shudder by the sensation of water trickling down the back of his neck and seeping through the fabric on his shoulders. Rose was trembling by his side, neither of them having worn any waterproof clothing. One hell of an oversight, really. Wrapping his arm around Rose’s shoulder, the two ran as fast as they dared towards the building. *** “Uh… what are you two doing?” This question was put forth by Gaia, who was unsubtly eying Jacen and Rose as they stumbled through the headquarters’ automatic doors and into a dry area – each of them had an arm around the other, and were hugging one another close. “Shared warmth.” Explained Jacen, characteristically brusque. “It’s practical.” “Whatever.” Gaia winked, and Jacen rolled his eyes, though his attention was quickly turned to Dante, who was engaged in an increasingly loud conversation with the building’s receptionist. “I’m sorry, sir, but if you don’t have identification or an appointment, you can’t go any further than this.” She was saying, an apologetic look on her face. Dante rubbed his forehead. “Since when was that…” He trailed off. Jacen stepped forward, Rose still by his side. “We’re looking for our friend, Plue Abernathy.” He explained. “We just want to know which room she’s in.” “I’m afraid I can’t say.” The receptionist confessed. Jacen raised an eyebrow, and the poor woman blanched. “It’s not that I… it’s just… that’s the name of one of the new faction leaders! It’s a security measure.” She seemed about as flustered as Dante. However, the situation was saved by the sound of another voice. “It’s okay! I can vouch for them!” Turning around, Jacen heard Gaia’s excited yell of “Vector!” just as he saw the man himself. The Venture League faction leader looked even worse than Jacen felt – a beard worth at least a week’s growth clung to his jaw, and he had enough luggage under his eyes to declare himself packed and ready for a well-deserved holiday. Nevertheless, his eyes were bright as he waved at the group. “Hey Gaia!” He smirked, before turning back to the confused receptionist. “These guys were a big help during the battle of Crux Prime. They’re trustworthy, don’t worry.” “I… if you say so, sir.” The receptionist turned back to Dante. “You can find Plue Abernathy in room G9.” “Great.” Dante smirked. “Thanks.” With that, he began to stride off down the metal corridor, leaving a trail of wet footprints in his wake. “Thanks, Vector.” Jacen managed to say before being pulled away by Gaia. Over his shoulder, he could see the man laughingly waving them off. *** “Here we are.” Declared Dante, staring at the door that had G9 painted on it in bright yellow paint. There was a moment of silence, during which Jacen considered the fact that they still had no idea what Plue was doing, before Gaia could restrain herself no longer and gave the door a shove. “Hey, Plue! Where’ve you…” The words trailed off, Gaia – of all people – seemingly stunned into silence. Curiosity overtook Jacen, and he followed Dante and Gaia inside to witness one of the more bizarre sights of his life. Plue Abernathy was sitting on a well-furnished, wooden chair on one side of the room, her right side facing the group. She was wearing neither battle armour nor a set of shabby, borrowed clothing, but rather a full-on, formal business suit (with trousers instead of a skirt, however – apparently, some things truly were impossible), with a sentinel faction pin below her collar. In her hand was not a plastic cup full of cheap Frappuccino, but rather a china cup containing… something. Tea, if the smell was any indication. Sitting opposite her were around a dozen men and women, the youngest of which looked to be in their fifties. They too were clad in impeccable-looking business wear, and they too were holding teeny-tiny china cups of tea. Several dozen folders and sheets of paper were scattered on the table in between the two parties, and it was clear that some sort of conversation between the them had been taking place before the untimely arrival of the visitors. As it was, the silence was deafening. Terrifyingly slowly, Plue’s head turned towards the group. However bad Vector had looked, she looked far worse. Despite being so well-dressed and formal – her blonde hair was even in an intricate bun instead of a messy ponytail, and were those glasses on her forehead? – there was something decidedly off about her. Visible in her eyes was a cold, almost insane fury, which she now directed at the new arrivals. “What…” she hissed, “the ff''fff''… what are you motheeeer…. doing here?” Her teeth scraped against one another audibly, and Rose took a step back in fright. Jacen was puzzled for a brief moment, but it soon became clear. She was trying not to curse. Plue Abernathy, probably the least foul-mouthed person to be found in the Nexus Force (exclamations heard on the field of battle notwithstanding) was desperately trying to not swear… and it was hilarious. Gaia seemed to have jumped to the same conclusion, since she almost immediately started to unsubtly snigger – her laughter then turned into a phoney cough as she eyed the old fogeys staring at her. “Plue.” Dante’s voice wavered slightly, as if he were unsure how to proceed. His trepidation was understandable, considering just how dangerous his girlfriend sounded. “You, ah… you were gone a while, so we came to see what you were doing.” “You can just…” Plue inhaled and exhaled, and the cup that she was holding trembled slightly in the grip. “You can wait outside. In the mmm''mm''… in the hallway. I’m almost done.” The words slipped out from her lips like a monster slipping out from underneath a bed. “No, it’s fine.” One of the men, a portly gentleman in his late sixties, said as he surveyed the group visually. “Are these the people you were telling us about?” Plue nodded, still breathing disturbingly heavily. “Yes.” She declared. “This is Dante Wilder, Gaia Eluciss, Roseanne Hargrove, and Jacen Farrand.” Suddenly, Jacen found himself decidedly glad that Shadow had stayed in the car. “Oh, Plue, you’ve been telling them about us?” Gaia’s eyes lit up. “Awesome!” “Quite.” Said another man, near the back of the room. “We were discussing with Miss Abernathy a proposition that she had put forward, about the formation of a new branch of the Nexus Force.” “We understand that you are supposed to be the founding members?” A woman added, glancing at the young adults with barely concealed disdain. Rose was wearing a turtleneck that she had borrowed from Jacen, and which was thusly noticeably too big. Dante’s coat was filthy, and the colour clash became more apparent than ever in a room which mostly consisted of people wearing various shades of grey and white. Jacen’s glasses were wrapped in masking tape, as a short term fixing strategy, and there was a massive tear in the front of his shirt that hadn’t yet been fixed properly. Both of the men had messy, ruffled hair. As for Gaia? Her hair was so long and bedraggled that it looked like the cape of a superhero that had come off worst in a fight against their arch-nemesis, the fingerless gloves she had taken to wearing made her look like a biker, and one of her forearms was wrapped in matted bandages that she had adamantly refused to remove. On the grounds that they “looked cool”. As icing on the cake, all four newcomers were soaking wet as a result of the rain. It was little wonder that Plue looked like she was about to go on a killing spree. “Wait. In. The. Hall.” She hissed, desperately. To no avail. “Uhh… Yeah.” Dante rubbed the back of his head nervously. “That’s us.” Good God, what had they done? “Yes, well.” Plue appeared to be on the brink of spontaneously combusting from frustration and rage. “Despite… appearances, they’re more than qualified for their positions. I can assure you of that.” Her eyes narrowed. “As can my peers." “We don’t doubt the quality of your word, Miss Abernathy.” One of the suits said. “We just want to ensure that our money isn’t wasted on frivolities when there is a war to win.” “Some war.” Someone sniffed. “At this point, it’s more akin to a circus performance.” “Mmm.” Another voice agreed. “Fools in flamboyant clothing being flashy on the front lines.” Plue visibly flinched. Dante, who had taken to wearing clothing of a somewhat flamboyant nature, felt mildly offended. Gaia remained oblivious. Rose’s brow furrowed. Jacen, beginning to catch on to the gravity of the situation, stepped forward. “How about we just, ah, wait outside, and leave you to finish your discussion? We wouldn’t want to intrude…” “Yes, yes, very well.” One of the men grumbled. The group proceeded to exit the room as fast as formality allowed, followed by the sound of Plue beginning to talk again. “In any case, I understand where your concerns are coming from, but let me assure you once again that this division is necessary…” *** “Holy crap, I’m gonna get murdered.” Dante covered his face with his palms as he lamented. Jacen, Rose and Gaia all watched on, before Rose stepped forward. “You don’t know that.” She said, reassuringly. “She’ll understand that it was a mistake…” Dante shook his head. “Rose, not that I don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do…” he shuddered. “But I’ve never seen her so angry.” “Never seen her so close to swearing before.” Agreed Gaia – whose boundless enthusiasm appeared to have been suppressed by the stress of what they had just experienced. “I mean – when she isn’t running something through. Obviously.” She stayed quiet for a moment longer, and then smiled. “I’m gonna go look around!” “Don’t.” Jacen held out his palm, preventing her from walking off. “This is a formal place, as we’ve just seen. The last thing we need is you destroying something.” “I – I wouldn’t!” Protested Gaia, though she stayed nonetheless. “Hey… Jacen…” Dante muttered. Jacen turned towards the man, who had let his hands drop to his sides, and was now staring up at the ceiling. “Do you think we could do this? Like, we’re not just gonna get ourselves killed straight away?” Jacen stroked his chin, trying to ignore the fact that Gaia was pulling faces at him. (And that poor Rose was trying to stop her.) “Well, I wouldn’t exactly call us a class act.” Admitted Jacen. “But I wouldn’t write us off before we’ve even begun, either.” Dante smiled gratefully at him. At that moment, the door slid open. One by one, the old people began to depart and disperse, heading down the corridor as an eerily slick single unit. None of them paid the group any heed – which enabled Dante and Rose to glower at their backs. After they all turned a corner, and vanished from sight, quite reigned supreme for all of a few seconds. Then, Gaia said: “Anyone else think that those guys were kind of jerks?” “You and me both.” Agreed Rose, folding her arms. “No-one should be able to brush off a war like that.” “And why did Plue have to talk to them about setting up our organisation?” Mused Jacen, out loud. “Isn’t she the leader of the Nexus Force now?” It was at this moment that Plue herself walked out of the room, in a very “speak of the devil and she may appear” fashion. She may have looked formal, but she also looked as tired as anyone could remember seeing her. She eyed each person in turn, glowering in their general directions before hanging her head and holding up a folder of papers. “I got their permission.” She muttered. “Get me the hell out of here.” Not wanting to incur her wrath by prying, the group were all too happy to oblige. *** “So…” Surprisingly enough, Rose was the first person to speak. “What was that about?” The words awkwardly died in the stifling car, which now had four people crammed into the back row. Jacen, from his position in the driver’s seat, couldn’t see Plue, Gaia, Rose and Dante being crushed together on the seats, but he could assume that it wasn’t pleasant based on the grunts of pain that echoed from the back whenever the car went over a bump. There was a stuffy, uncomfortable atmosphere to be found in the car, which stemmed from both the moisture (as a result of all of the car’s occupants being soaking wet), and the fact that Rose’s words were the first to be spoken all drive, despite them nearly being back at the house. Plue’s head rolled back as she focused her disjointed gaze on the car’s ceiling, leaning back in her seat. Her hair, released from its tight bun, fell in wet strands across her head, framing her face and draping itself across her shoulders and back. Her eyes were dim with fatigue. “I was…” She spoke slowly. “I had to get permission to form your separate organisation.” Everyone turned their attention to her, waiting for her to continue speaking. “Thought it’d be easy.” She muttered, almost to herself. “Turned out, when I tried, I couldn’t officially do it without explicit permission from the… sponsors, I guess. The people who fund the Nexus Force. Mostly friends of the last batch of faction leaders, who were… well, it’s complicated.” She leaned forward, and wrapped her fingers together as she continued to speak. “They must have been brought in by my predecessors. Probably had… I don’t know, investments and long-term plans and stuff like that. That was all fine and good, but last month… especially last week… everything changed.” She scanned the car, meeting everyone’s eyes. “As you know. So, suddenly these investors find that not only has the course of the war changed, because with the Darkitecht no longer out in the open, its less open warfare and more of a clandestine affair, but the people who got them roped into this project in the first place are dead, as well as all of their immediate subordinates. In their place are a bunch of young, comparatively inexperienced recruits who basically landed the positions through chance.” She sighed. “I mean, it was obviously more complicated than that, but that’s basically how they see it. So…” She trailed off, and sighed again. “I had to spent all day trying to convince them that your separate branch was a good idea, and would be a beneficial use of resources, wouldn’t be a waste… et cetera.” “Were they bad?” Gaia ventured. Plue nodded. “The worst. The only reason it ended up going as well as it did is because Kaylori was able to tell me about them before the meeting. She lent me a suit, told them how they’d try to psyche me out, helped me plan what I was going to say…” She breathed in and out. “She’d met them before, working with Overbuild and all.” She wrapped her arms around herself, trembling slightly. “I just… they hated me.” She sniffed once, the noise echoing around the otherwise silent interior or the vehicle. “Hated how young I was, hated that they didn’t know me, hated my new ideas, hated how I had no experience… they probably hated the fact that I was a girl leading an army, too.” “Plue…” Rose muttered. Plue shook her head. “I’m alright.” She declared. “Well, no, I’m not, but I will be. It’s over, I won, and I’m going to be okay. I just… I just need some time.” She looked almost dead, hunched over in her seat. Jacen, for his part, was unsure what to say as the he brought the car to a halt outside the house. The rain still relentlessly pattered down, unceasing in its fall. His brow creased in a rare display of concern – not that anyone could see, of course. “Take all the time you need.” He managed to say, before unlocking the door and stepping into the deluge. *** It was the knocking on Plue’s door that drew her out of what could almost have been considered a stupor. Quiet and timid as it was, it was a lot louder and more direct than anything else Plue had heard all evening. After arriving back at the group’s residence – her house, as a matter of fact – she had spent over half an hour in a shower before changing into pyjamas and locking herself in her room, in an attempt to get over what had easily been one of the worst days of her life. Including when she had been kidnapped. And when one of her best friends had been killed. There was, of course, comfort to be found in her bedroom – a place of familiarity. The shelves were laden with books, most of which had been read countless times, and there were several notebooks and pens lying in various places as well, discarded and abandoned as she had let go of her old ideas and come up with new ones. Speaking of old and familiar, she heard Dante’s voice from the other side of the door. “Plue?” He called. Softly. “Are you in there?” For a moment, Plue was tempted to not answer. She still wanted quiet, and alone-ness, and to just lie on the bed and not see anybody ever again. But she also wanted comfort. Someone to talk to. And her boyfriend was good company. “Come in.” She managed to croak. Dante entered. His jacket was gone, and he softly walked in, holding two steaming mugs in his hands. They seemed to warm up the whole room with their presence, though that could have been because Plue had forgotten to turn on the heater. “Hot chocolate.” He said, simply, managing a smile as he set one of the mugs down on her bedside table, leaving her to wriggle upwards and take the drink. On the mug were faded black words – I write. What’s YOUR superpower? Even after how much time had passed since receiving the thing as a gift, those words still made her feel a little warm and fuzzy inside. “Figured you needed some, after today.” He explained, sitting at the foot of the bed with a mug of his own. On it were transcribed a large selection of grammatical rules – You’re = you are, Your = belonging to you, ''e.t.c – mixed in with a healthy amount of swear words. Plue was tempted to smile for a brief moment, but this was quickly swallowed up by her more negative feelings. As much as it might soon pain her, she and Dante had agreed on a one hundred percent honesty policy when they had gotten together. It was now time to honour that agreement. “I’m still cross with you.” She revealed, sipping her drink. Dante shrugged, trying to act nonchalant even as his face revealed his dismay. “I figured.” He admitted. “Plue… I’m sorry.” She raised an eyebrow, silently encouraging him to continue. “I shouldn’t have been so paranoid… no, I should have trusted you.” He furrowed his brow. “I could probably give a load of excuses about how we’re still technically at war, and how dangerous things might be for you as the new leader of the Nexus Force, and all that other stuff, but I still should have trusted you. Still should have had faith in you, and believed that you would have been able to take care of yourself.” He raised his head to look her in the eyes. “I just… I can’t lose anyone else. Especially not you.” Her heart fluttered slightly, despite herself. “Well, the worst thing about it was how badly timed your entrance was.” She pointed out, breaking eye contact with him to stare awkwardly at her drink. “Though, I can’t necessarily blame you for that, now can I?” “Can I apologize anyway?” Dante still had a tinge of fear left on his face, and so Plue took it upon herself to smile a little. To show him that, at the end of the day, levity was acceptable. “Only if you mean it.” She told him. He smiled back, his grin – familiar as an old glove – beginning to reappear on his face. “Of course.” “Good.” Sniffed Plue. “That being said, what else do you think you should apologize for before I can forgive you?” “Well…” Dante stroked his chin. “Basically barging into the room instead of knocking or anything, though that might be more Gaia’s fault than mine.” “It might.” “And… not waiting outside when you asked me to.” “Yep.” “And… uhh…” He seemed a little lost for ideas. She rolled her eyes. “You lot didn’t look the least bit presentable in there, which really didn’t help my sales pitch. Lucky I was just wrapping things up, otherwise they might have had more time to make the disorganised and unreliable, or whatever, nature of this new organisation into a proper argument against me.” She glared at him. “Especially considering the fact that you of all people weren’t wearing ANYTHING formal. You’re the leader now, right? It’s an official position.” “Aw, really?” Dante looked over himself in a forlorn manner. “I thought I looked okay!” “Aaron-” “Dante.” “No. your name is Aaron.” She folded her arms, not willing to argue with him about his idea to change his name. Which was dumb, in her opinion, but whatever. “The point is, there are many things I love about you, but your sense of style isn’t really one of them.” “I like to think that I have an impeccable sense of style.” He was smiling again. Damn him and his contagious, earnest, cute smile. “Well, that’s your opinion. And most of the time, you’d probably get away with it.” She sighed. “But at what was essentially a business meeting, it wasn’t what you could call suitable attire.” Dante’s shoulders rolled. “I had no idea what you were doing, though. You didn’t leave a message, or a note, or anything. All you said yesterday was that you were going to the new Nexus Force HQ – that’s how we knew where to find you.” “Okay, that one’s on me.” Plue sighed. “I could have at least tried to explain what I was doing to you.” “Are we done here?” Dante interrupted. “Sorry – I know this stuff should be said – but I get the feeling that this sort of negativity isn’t really what you need right now.” Plue found herself nodding, and saying “You may be right about that.” After a moment’s hesitation, she shrugged and put her half-drunk mug on the side. “Alright, you’re forgiven. We can talk out the rest of the details later. Now, come on. Hug.” Dante chuckled as he placed his drink beside hers. “Yes ma’am.” He muttered, lying beside her and wrapping his arms around her torso. She laughed, even as she felt the first pangs of fatigue overtake her. His arms were… reassuring. That was the only word for them. It was like wearing a comfy seat belt. “You’re a good hugger.” She mumbled, suddenly finding herself incredibly drowsy. The warmth and the hot chocolate must have driven the last of the adrenaline from her system, for she suddenly found it incredibly hard to keep her eyes open. “Good to hear.” She heard Dante say. “You need a good hug, I can tell.” “Mm.” Whatever words she might have been trying to say, they fell short before reaching her lips. The pair lay in silence for what felt like a while – enough time for darkness to overtake Plue’s vision. “Plue?” She managed to hear her boyfriend say. Dazed, she turned in what she assumed was his general direction. “Yeah?” She managed to say. There was a brief silence, and all of a sudden, she felt his lips lightly press themselves against her forehead. It was a very brief moment, but it suddenly seemed to overshadow the horrible day she had otherwise had. “I love you.” Dante said, voice trembling slightly with the weight of his words. In spite of how many times she had heard them from him, she still felt a rush of affection and bashfulness upon receiving the message. “Love you too.” She managed. *** “Maddox”, as it had been anointed, observed the work ethic of its owners and found it to be somewhat lacking. The productivity levels of the group were reaching roughly 30% of their potential. This was mostly due to Gaia harassing the rest of her co-workers, the fact that general fatigue still ran rampant throughout the ranks, and the fact that all Vector had done since arriving had been to eat biscuits and distract the other units with his small talk. It just seemed so illogical. If they wanted to finish their task as quickly as possible, why did they not simply put all of their energies into working harder and faster? Humans were strange. *** Jacen all but slammed his cup onto the table as hastened to reply. “Mom, for the fifth time this morning, I’m alright.” His voice almost raised to a shout, and he hastened to lower it. “Really.” Suddenly finding it hard to speak as his mother turned to him with such an unfamiliar anxiety in her blue eyes, he resigned himself to another sip of hot chocolate. “I trust you.” Her voice sounded like a murmur compared to his harsh tones, and had to bite back a wave of guilt. “I just… I just wanted to make sure. I know that what you went through was, ah…” She stopped talking. He shrugged, uncomfortable. “Yeah, it wasn’t what I thought it’s going to be. But that’s okay.” He turned up to her, managing a smile. “Here I am, you know? Alive and unhurt.” “And that’s all that matters.” She agreed, smiling warmly at him before turning around, staring at something on her phone. Jacen was about to ask what had caught her interest when the clumping sound of footsteps alerted him to his father’s presence. “Hey, dad.” He managed to say as the man himself walked into the room. While almost as scrawny as his son, there was an air about him that made him seem bigger and stronger than he actually was – Jacen had never been able to explain how imposing the man seemed to be, but had long ago accepted it as a quizzical feature of the man. Luckily, he was amicable enough to subvert the expectation that popped into people’s heads whenever they encountered someone with such a quirk. “Jacen.” His father greeted him. “Good to see you’re up.” “And you.” Jacen nodded. “You guys sure you’ve got enough energy today? You slept, like, the whole of yesterday.” “An unfortunate side effect of travelling almost a day non-stop.” His father informed him. “Trust me, we’re fin-” “Oh my!” An exclamation from his mother interrupted the two men, who both turned towards her. She turned to look back, an otherwise surprised expression on her face. “Jacen, you didn’t tell us that you were friends with the faction leaders!” Leaning forward, Jacen and his father observed the photograph his mother had stumbled upon. Taken just after the battle of Crux Prime, it showed Jacen amongst a group of people standing in front of the new Nexus HQ as it was being built – there was Plue, the new leader of the Nexus Force, in the center, and Dante to her left. To ''his ''left was Jacen, who had been all but dragged into the photograph. There was then Rose, Gaia, Shadow, and that robot – Maddox. On Plue’s right were Vector, Kaylori, and Vanda – the other faction leaders. Altogether, they looked more like a group of friends hanging out than they did the formal organisation members that society now seemed to view them as. “I’m not. Not exactly.” Jacen elaborated. “I mean, I’ve- we’ve been working with the Sentinel faction leader, and she’s also my friend’s girlfriend… but I don’t know any of the others very well, personally.” “You all seem to be comfortable enough in one another’s presence.” Observed his father, lazily indicating the picture with a wave of a hand. “I guess.” Admitted Jacen, not entirely sure what to say. “We’ll probably see more of each other in the future. It’s mostly just chance, though.” “Well, good for you, making yourself some friends already.” His mother praised him. “If you’re going to take up a job here – and you don’t have to, by the way – it’s best to do it with the people you like, right?” “Yeah.” Jacen elected to not bring up, once again, how he had decided to stay on as a member of the organisation for a large number of reasons that he wasn’t entirely comfortable with sharing. “I guess.” *** “Dude, how does this work?” Dante peered at the computer quizzically as Jacen leant back in frustration, presumably trying to not tear his hair out. “Just… don’t… touch it.” He sounded almost as angry as Plue had been, and Dante couldn’t help but feel a shiver up and down his spine. “I can set it up, but they’re a pain in the ass to work with, and breaking them won’t help-” He was cut off as, in the adjoining room, a muffled curse could be heard alongside an electrical fizzing noise. Jacen all but screamed as he jumped up and ran out of the room (through the door-less doorway) to tear a strip off Gaia for breaking something else. Now that no eyes were on him, Dante felt himself relax a little, at least physically. With the investors’ approval, his group – which he still needed to choose a name for – had become something a little more tangible. Whilst there was a lot of excitement that came with watching his childhood dream come to life as an adult, there was the additional stress of being an adult as well. The other members of the group, his ''team, kept coming to him with their problems, and the people such as Plue and Vector who normally took charge seemed to have no trouble referring to him as the resident authority. He had to call all the shots, make final decisions for mostly mundane topics (who cared whether the landing pad he wanted to build had an “H” on it or not?), and keep order amongst a definitely unorderly group of employees. He wasn’t sure which number was bigger – the number of computers that had been shorted out, or the number of desks that had been destroyed. And he would have to deal with both issues, at some point. All in all, it was the sort of thing he had thought was going to be awesome until it actually happened, at which point he became thoroughly disillusioned with the whole idea. Leadership. Tch. He could hear her scoff in his mind, and rolled his eyes. “Raelyn'',” he thought to her, “where the hell have you even been?” “Giving you some privacy.” Replied the obstinate voice that he was slowly growing used to having in his head. “I may be evil or whatever, but even I’m not merciless enough to bother you when you’re spending some alone time with your girlfriend.''” “You act as though that’s all I’ve been doing for two days straight.” Dante retorted, even as he felt a little warmth creep up his neck. He could picture Raelyn shrugging as she spoke: “Yeah, well, I’m not really interested in this little club of yours. Keeping order? Taking command of a totally mundane situation? Yeuch, count me out.” “Hey, no backseat driving.” Dante was tempted to rap his knuckles against his skull, but eventually decided against it. He had tried that before, anyway, and it hadn’t had much of an effect. “Not knocking your life choices, pal.” Raelyn retorted. “Just saying, it’s not something I hold a whole lot of interest in.” “I guess I should be glad, then. I don’t exactly want you to have an incentive for interfering in my life.” Shot Dante, the harsh thoughts forming before he could really stop them. Was this what being an adult was about, having a perpetually short fuse? Damn it all, responsibility was depressing. Then again, he was conversing with a being that had killed people without a second thought, and would probably not hesitate to use his body to do so again. Maybe he was just on edge. “No, you probably wouldn’t.” Admitted Raelyn. She sounded almost pouty. “I just wish you’d let me have control every once in a while. I’m bored out of our mind in here.” “Not happening.” Dante told her. “You can’t hide your murderous intent from me, remember? I can tell that you’d kill… wait, the investors?” “You sound surprised.” She didn’t deny his (mental) exclamation. “They were a bunch of dicks.” “Well, yeah, but you couldn’t just kill them!” It wasn’t the first time that Dante had seen this from his companion – as it turned out, death seemed to be Raelyn’s go-to problem solver. Go figure. “Dante – the fact that you changed your name is stupid, by the way-” “Not you, too!” “-I’ve lived long enough, and seen enough death, to understand one thing about human lives.” Raelyn paused for a moment before continuing. “They are completely and utterly expendable. I have seen a very, very large number of people die, and guess what? The worlds keep turning, the stars keep burning, the universe doesn’t change at all. Humans are worth nothing dead, and they’re not worth much more alive. If I did kill all the investors, all I’d be doing would be speeding up a natural process.” “You’d also be cutting off most of the Nexus Force’s funding.” Muttered Dante, even as he clenched his trembling hands and a cold sweat began to make its way down his neck. “That’d probably be an advantage to the Darkitecht.” “…” Raelyn gave no immediate reply, to which Dante sighed (outwardly). “One day, I’d like you to tell me why you hate that guy so much.” “Never happen.” Retorted Raelyn, practically instantly. Perhaps Dante would have said something back, but a rapidly approaching figure shut him up pretty quickly. Jacen reappeared in the doorway, ginger hair looking dishevelled and a flustered expression on his face. “What’s the matter?” Dante’s rapidly growing experience with the whole leadership thing meant that he was able to suss pretty quickly from his subordinate’s ragtag appearance that all was not well. “We’ve got maelstrom.” Jacen reported, smoothing down his turtleneck (returned from loan) as he talked. “Dark Ones, by the look of them.” “So, he’s restarting simple, huh?” Dante shoved his hands in his pockets and began to stride towards the door. “Where are they?” “Pretty much right outside.” Admitted Jacen. “I saw them through a window.” “Perfect.” Dante moved past him. “You coming, or what?” “I- yeah. Sure.” Jacen moved in turn, in order to keep up with the other man. “You got a weapon?” The building that they were now about to exit was the property they had been formally commissioned to use as a base. After a much-needed rest that had lasted approximately a day and a half, Plue had placed herself in charge of permits and formalities, and had been on the phone for almost a week. Meanwhile, drastic renovations were taking place, which was probably why there were no proper doors. This included an exit door, hence Dante stepped across the threshold and into the sunlight to view the enemy himself. “Armed and ready.” Jacen reported as Dante caught sight of their opponents. Small and weak, the Dark Ones weren’t much of a visible threat. Nevertheless, their grotesque appearance of a hunched back, malformed limbs, and beady pink eyes embedded in an otherwise faceless head were enough to send civilians fleeing in terror. “Nice.” Dante grinned as he held out a hand towards the dark ones, palm up and fingers clamped together and pointing skyward. Channelling the Raelyn (as he had taken to referring to it as), a thin film of magenta light shot out of his palm, boring a hole through the nearest Dark One, which keeled over and slumped to the ground – as any reasonable creature would do, if a hole were shot through it with a laser. However, what most reasonable creatures wouldn’t do would be something along the lines of sitting up after a couple of seconds, the wound having closed, and begin to slump towards their attacker. Shockingly enough, the Dark One did just that. “The hell?” Dante fired off another laser, this time slicing through the Dark One’s arms. A moment – and the arm reformed, the purple aura of mist that surrounded the Dark One enveloping it and forming a new appendage. “That’s not normal.” Remarked Jacen, as the two watched the scene unfold. “I guess this means that my gun wouldn’t be much use, either?” “Probably not.” Admitted Dante, taking a step back from the approaching Dark One. “You should give it a try, though. Who knows?” A pair of deafening gunshots went off, and the Dark One reeled back. For about a second, Dante dared to hope that it might have been defeated, but it then leant back forward with no visible injuries. “You and your optimism.” He heard Jacen mutter. Unfortunately, the pressing matter of the situation meant that he was unable to come up with a good biting retort, so he settled for pushing Jacen out of the way as the Dark One dived at the pair of them, screeching as it leapt. A gaping maw, with rows of sharpened black teeth, appeared on its face seemingly out of nowhere. It snapped at empty air as the two jumped away, turning around wildly to glare at them with its beady little eyes. Craning his own neck, all Dante could see were the rest of the Dark Ones, which were now slowly turning towards him and Jacen – no doubt, the fact that they weren’t running away was enough to make them a decent allure. That was all well and good, of course, but how were they supposed to defeat them if they kept regenerating? “Any ideas, Jacen?” He asked, rising to his feet and clenching his fists. “Not off the top of my head.” Informed Jacen, keeping a wary eye on the slowly approaching Dark Ones as he spoke. “It really depends on whether they have a source of energy or not.” “Hmm?” Dante looked at him quizzically. “Well,” Jacen explained, “We’re in the middle of Nimbus Station – it’s not exactly a maelstrom-rich area. It figures that they’re drawing their regenerative energy from somewhere, right?” “I guess.” Nodded Dante, peering behind the Dark Ones. “Hey, what’s that thing over there?” Jacen peered towards what Dante was looking at, even as both of them took several tentative steps backwards. There was a thin slab of rock embedded in the road – slate coloured, and thusly inconspicuous enough to have not been noticed by either man straight away. Still, it was kind of weird, emitting a faint purple glow that was visible even in the midday sun. How did they miss it earlier? “Not sure.” Jacen told him. “But I think it’s significant.” “Right.” Dante flexed the muscles in his fingers, letting his energy flow through them. “Can you keep these gremlins busy?” “Depends. How long are you talking?” Jacen raised his gun once again, firing a shot into the head of the nearest Dark One – which had been about to lunge. “Probably less than a minute.” Dante informed him, beginning to stride towards the suspicious rock. “I just want to check this out.” The last thing he heard before all sound was lost to the blood roaring in his head was Jacen’s voice. “Done.” *** Gaia wouldn’t consider herself an observant person. Not on any day of the week, any week of the year, any year of the… decade. E.t.c. Small details and discrepancies had the really annoying ability to just fly right past her head. Some would call her dense, whilst others would probably accuse her of living with her head in the clouds. Whichever one was more accurate didn’t really matter, though living with her head in the clouds sounded way cooler… the point was, things had a habit of passing her by. Like the weird tiny monster that was knocked through her window – well, not her window, but the window that she was passing by. It went right past her. Not metaphorically, though, because she definitely noticed it. It went literally past her face, careening into the wall at a speed that looked really fun to fly at. It even made a crack in the wall. Damn. After voicing as such, Gaia casually ambled over to the… thing. It was short and withered, looking like a hunchback with a growth defect. It made a bunch of weird noises, too. Sounded like it was trying to gargle a mouthful of marbles. Sighing, she picked it up by what she assumed to be the scruff of its neck, and wandered to the shattered window – the creature, thankfully, was to dazed to properly struggle. Peering down at the street below, she saw Jacen and Dante fighting several more of the little dark things. That made sense. Dante must have tossed the one she now held up into the window during the fight. That being said, one thing (aside from the fact that the fight seemed to be winding down, with no proper way for her to get involved any more) still bothered her; she held the little creature out of the window and yelled down. “Oi, guys! What even is this thing, some kind of gremlin?” Her shout was loud enough to get both of their attentions, and it was Jacen who responded. “No, it’s a Dark One! Plus regenerative capabilities!” “Which it was getting from that thing!” Dante pointed at… what looked like several pieces of rubble. Didn’t he mean “things”? Ah well. Gaia looked in disdain at the gremlin – Dark One – she held in her hand. Wasn’t all that tough-looking to her. Looks could be deceiving, though… “Whatever.” She decided out loud, letting the gremlin drop out of her grip and down to the street below. “Just don’t feed these things after midnight.” *** “Nice job, you two!” The palm that landed on Jacen’s back was one hell of a shock to his antisocial system – especially from someone like Vector, who was physically strong enough to rival Gaia in an arm wrestle – but he managed to remain decently courteous. “It wasn’t a big deal.” He wheezed. “The Dark Ones could regenerate. Whatever.” “Yeah, but think about the damage those things could have caused if you guys hadn’t intervened.” Pointed out Rose, who was sipping a drink a little way away. “It’s rare for maelstrom to spawn so deep in an urban area – most of the Nexus Force’s troops are concentrated on borders and in hostile lands.” She paused, took another sip, and finished her thought. “You guys saved the Nexus Force a lot of damage control, probably.” “And I’m very grateful.” Agreed Plue, leaning her head against Dante affectionately. “Though, I can’t help but wonder about this new breed of Dark One. You said they could regenerate?” Dante nodded. “There was a piece of debris – like, some kind of rock. I don’t know how or why, but until I destroyed it, any injuries we gave those things would vanish.” “That’s worrying.” Muttered Plue. “Hopefully some of our teams can get to the bottom of it-” “You can worry about that later, Plue!” Vector grinned, punching his fellow faction leader in his shoulder. “For now, let’s celebrate! This organisation you guys have been making is ready to be made operational!” “Well…” Jacen cast an eye around the room, which still had half a dozen cardboard boxes filled with supplies in it. Vector waved him off. “Yeah, I know, it still needs to finish being built and all, that, but you’ve got enough stuff set up to start work, right?” “I guess.” Admitted Dante, though he was stopped short by Vector. “Well, then we need to do a bunch of stuff to celebrate. I mean, we need to think of a name first of all, right?” “A name?” Echoed Dante, a quizzical look appearing on his face. “Now that you mention it, I hadn’t thought of one.” “Huh?” Plue and Rose both sounded surprised by this, though Plue elaborated her exclamation. “You mean, you haven’t thought of one yet?” “No…” Dante rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. “I guess, with everything else that’s been going on, I haven’t had time to think about it, you know?” “I have.” The words slipped out of Jacen’s mouth before he could consider what he was saying, and all of the room’s occupant’s gazes fell upon him. “Oh?” Rose raised an eyebrow. “Jacen, I didn’t know you were bothered about that sort of thing.” “I’m not.” He lied. “I just figured that it’d better be me that comes up with our name instead of someone like her-” he flicked his thumb over his shoulder to the figure of Gaia, who was asleep – practically comatose – on top of one of the new desks. “-who’d probably bring a whole load of absurdism with her suggestion.” There was a ripple of laughter around the gathered soldiers, and eventually Dante smiled and folded his arms. “Sounds good, dude. What did you have in mind?” “I-” Jacen was interrupted by a shrill ringing sound. Turning his head, he saw one of their new phones (that had only been set up that day, as a matter of fact), ringing desperately. “Probably either another report, or a newsperson.” Vector informed him. “We’ve been getting a bunch of calls related to you guys – who were all photographed with us – since the battle, and I eventually gave out the building’s number.” Dante glared at him, and Vector flinched. “Ah – sorry – they were just too annoying for me to deal with. And after that incident with the Dark Ones yesterday, we’ve been flooded with calls.” “Figures.” Jacen sighed. “It’s tough at the top… but this is perfect, though.” Even as everyone surrounding him raised an eyebrow, Jacen swallowed his apprehension and picked up the phone. Holding the receiver to his ear, he made sure to make eye contact with Dante the whole time he was speaking. For once, he allowed himself to smile. “Hello, this is Pandemonium’s’ Bane. How can I help you?” -END Category:Stories Category:Short Stories